rn him, and giving away valuable information. This man Dunster's
disappearance is as yet unexplained. I feel myself justified in making
certain investigations, and among the first of them I should like you
to tell me exactly the nature of the work for which Mr. Fentolin finds a
secretary necessary?"

She glanced towards the bell. He moved to the edge of the table as
though to intercept her.

"In any ordinary case," he continued, "I would not ask you to betray
your employer's confidence. As things are, I think I am justified. You
are English, are you not? You realise, I suppose, that the country is on
the brink of war?"

She looked at him from the depths of her still, lusterless eyes.

"You must be a very foolish person," she remarked, "if you expect to
obtain information in this manner."

"Perhaps I am," he confessed, "but my folly has brought me to you, and
you can give me the information if you will."

"Where is Mr. Fentolin?" she asked.

"Down at the Tower," he replied. "I left him there. He sent me up to see
Miss Fentolin. I was looking for her when the click of your typewriter
reminded me of other things."

She turned composedly back to her work.

"I think," she said, "that you had better go and find Miss Fentolin."

"Don't talk nonsense! You can't think I have risked giving myself away
to you for nothing? I mean to search this room, to read the papers which
you are typing."

She glanced around her a little contemptuously.

"You are welcome," she assured him. "Pray proceed."

They exchanged the glances of duelists. Her plain black frock was
buttoned up to her throat. Her colourless face seemed set in exact and
expressionless lines. Her eyes were like windows of glass. He felt only
their scrutiny; nothing of the reason for it, or of the thoughts which
stirred behind in her brain. There was nothing about her attitude which
seemed in any way threatening, yet he had the feeling that in this
interview it was she who possessed the upper hand.

"You are a foolish person," she said calmly. "You are so foolish that
you are not, in all probability, in the slightest degree dangerous.
Believe me, ours is an unequal duel. There is a bell upon this table
which has apparently escaped your notice. I sit with my finger upon the
button--so. I have only to press it, and the servants will be here. I
do not wish to press it. I do not desire that you should be, as you
certainly would be, banished from this house."

He